faysalals1 Posted April 11 Share Posted April 11 (edited) I keep getting these brown soft dusty things all over my aquarium. If I put my hands in or move the water, it scatters all over, then it lands on my plants and decor. No matter how much I clean the water, it comes back in 24 hour! Is it algae or something else, and what should I do about it? My water parameters are good I just checked.. Edited April 11 by faysalals1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwcarlson Posted April 11 Share Posted April 11 Change more water. It's mulm/detritus. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllFishNoBrakes Posted April 11 Share Posted April 11 Like @jwcarlson said, change more water, gravel vac/siphon it out, and/or upgrade filtration. You could also add something like Corydoras to your tank that sift around the bottom to suspend the detritus back up in the water column to allow your filtration a second, third, fourth, etc. time to actually catch the debris. What kind of filtration do you have on the tank? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doktor zhivago Posted April 11 Share Posted April 11 It's just diatoms. Water changes only make it worse. You just have to let them run their course 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinnebuns Posted April 12 Share Posted April 12 Diatoms. Brown algae. Very common in new tanks or the addition of new decor. It will get better over time and as the nutrients are consumed. Get a nerite snail to help. They LOVE diatom algae!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EggShappedFish Posted April 12 Share Posted April 12 On 4/11/2024 at 10:14 PM, doktor zhivago said: It's just diatoms. Water changes only make it worse. You just have to let them run their course Diatoms grows on surfaces. This looks like it just lays on top of it. More/better circulation should help the mechanical filtration to pick it up 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtomicSunfish Posted April 12 Share Posted April 12 On 4/11/2024 at 2:05 PM, jwcarlson said: Change more water. It's mulm/detritus. Yes, it looks like mulm to me, too. When you do water changes, do you vacuum the gravel with your siphon? While that doesn’t necessary need to be done with each and every water change, it does need to be done from time to time. If it’s been a while, might be time to do that now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
faysalals1 Posted April 12 Author Share Posted April 12 On 4/12/2024 at 5:03 AM, AtomicSunfish said: Yes, it looks like mulm to me, too. When you do water changes, do you vacuum the gravel with your siphon? While that doesn’t necessary need to be done with each and every water change, it does need to be done from time to time. If it’s been a while, might be time to do that now. Yeah I do it really good once a week Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtomicSunfish Posted April 12 Share Posted April 12 On 4/12/2024 at 5:04 AM, faysalals1 said: Yeah I do it really good once a week Hmm. What form of filtration do you have? Also, do you scrape the sides of your tank sometimes, to get rid of algae growing there? I wonder if it’s build up of algae that came off the glass, but has not been either filtered out or siphoned away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Posted April 12 Share Posted April 12 Algae wouldn't move the second you put your hand near it, imo. All the clues make it seem like mulm. Mulm is a good thing for your aquarium. If you don't like the look of it, then gravel vac is the easiest way to remove it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macdaddy36 Posted April 12 Share Posted April 12 (edited) agree, its mulm do you have a pleco/catfish which is eating driftwood? Edited April 12 by macdaddy36 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spokanejared Posted April 12 Share Posted April 12 Only time I ever had this happen is when I changed foods and had an ammonia spike. That detritus took my entire aquarium over. I gravel vacuumed and changed the water every 2 days untill I got it back under control. It was so bad it blocked my filters and made a horrible mess of the entire tank. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lonkley Posted April 13 Share Posted April 13 Weird that it would be after 4 years. Could the aquaclear motor be aging out? Maybe deep clean the hob and impeller. If it's ok I would pack the aquaclear with polyfill or coop polishing pads and kick everything into the water column for it to pick up. If it is the hob I'd probably change to an aquaclear 50. But if you've been happy for 4 years I would concentrate on what has changed recently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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